Ateenager suspected of being the Parsons Green bomberhad been spoken to by police a number of times, neighbours of his foster family claimed today, amid questions over what authorities knew.

The 18-year-old refugee, believed to be Iraqi, was a “problem” to foster parents Penny and Ron Jones and they had been contacting officials saying that they were unable to cope, it was said.

Neighbours of their house in Sunbury-on-Thames, south west London, said that he had been brought home by officers just two weeks before the attack and they regularly saw plain clothes officers at the property.